Orgazmo (1997)

nOrgazmo is all about Joe Young, a faithful Mormon who goes housento house preaching the word of the bible to others. He wants to marry hisnbeautiful girlfriend Lisa, the only problem is that the wedding is expensivenand Joe doesn’t have the cash to marry her yet. But fear not! One day whilenpreaching he knocks on the door of a pornographer who is right smack in thenmiddle of shooting a porn film about a superhero named Orgazmo! The problem isnthat the actor who plays Orgazmo has just quit and now the pornographer is onenOrgazmo too short. When the porn director sees Joe, he knows he’s found hisnreplacement! Will Joe take the 10,000 dollars that the porn king is offeringnhim to play Orgazmo or will he remain faithful to God?

nAside from being a genuinely funny movie, Orgazmo talksnabout sexual repression amongst Christian parishioners. A distinctive elementnof Christian religions is how they suppress sexual desires amongst theirnfollowers. Yes sir, sex in its many forms is a big no-no for Christians. Atnleast until they are married, then it’s okay to open the gates of lust andndesire. But if you are not married, then sex is a sin and you’re going to hellnin a hand basket for doing it. According to the bible having sex before gettingnmarried is one of the worst sins you can commit. In 1 Corinthians 6:18 thenbible states that “He who commits fornication, sins against his own body” Younsee, according to the bible, our bodies are temples for God, and they are notnour own. That’s right our bodies belong to God’s, so we gotta take care ofnthem. What startles me about bible scriptures like this one is how they equalnthe act of having sex with something evil, they demonize sex. I personallynthink this demonization of sex is something really hypocritical, most people findna way to have sex no matter what the church says. As anyone who’s gone through pubertyncan attest, when you’re a teenager there’s no stopping those raging hormones!nThe makers of Orgazmo agree, sexuality is normal, no need to demonize it.  This is why they place their main character,na Mormon, right smack in the middle of a very sexual situation: the making of anporn film!

nWhich is where things get really funny! Placing a Christian onnthe set of a porn film makes this a fish out of water story, the fish being JoenYoung (Trey Parker), the results being comedy gold. The porn industry is ripenfor jokes, and only a couple of films have ventured there. Last one I remembernwatching was The Amateurs (2005) which stars Jeff Bridges as an amateur pornnproducer/director. Another one that comes to mind is Zack and Miri make a Pornon(2008), a film in which two roommates team up to make a Star Wars themed pornnfilm in order to get some money to pay the rent. With Orgazmo I laughed like anmad man in many a scene, including one in which Joe has to have sex with thisnultra fat and old porn actress, who also has a very manly voice. That moment isnso awful for Joe that he mentally escapes to a beautiful sunny country side,nsmiling and running through the grass with his girlfriend. Or watching Orgazmo’snsidekick ‘Choda Boy’ wearing his dildo hat or shooting his dildo missile! I knownthat sounds nuts, but it’s exactly what happens. I mean, how genius is to havena super hero who has a gun called the ‘Orgazmorator’ which gives its victims instantnmultiple Orgasms? When Orgazmo shoots his enemies with the Orgazmorator,nthey actually say “thank you!”! The ‘Orgazmorator’ reminded me of the ‘Orgazmatron’nfrom Barbarella (1968), in that film the villain Duran-Duran tries to killnBarbarella with it by giving her nonstop orgasms.

nAs you can see, sex comedies are nothing new. Barbarella is annearly example, and so is Flesh Gordon (1974). Though they are scarce today, thesentype of comedies proliferated like babies, especially during the late 70’s and 80’s.nThe only thing that makes Orgazmo different is that it’s not about teenagersntrying to have sex for the first time, it’s about a Christian, putting himself throughnthe experience of making a porn film so that he can pay for his expensivenchurch wedding, and then, with the help of his side kick Choda Boy, he reallyndoes become Orgazmo! For real! Ha, hilarious premise! Highly recommend checkingnout this incredibly underrated comedy. It has cameos by a bunch of famous pornnstars like Chasey Lane and Ron Jeremy. It was directed by Trey Parker, whose notnonly one of the creators of South Park, but also the director behind TeamnAmerica: World Police (2004) and Cannibal: The Musical! (1993). Parker found itndifficult to get funding to make Orgazmo, but he found his money and he madenhis movie. There’s no denying that Orgazmo can be considered vulgar by many,nbut there’s no denying it is also very funny. Ebert called it “sophomoric andnwitless” but I say if you’ve seen an episode of South Park than this type ofncomedy shouldn’t be all that shocking. The uninitiated Trey Parker’s and MattnStone’s unique brand of blunt humor might prove to be a bit too harsh, but fornthe rest of us, it’s as funny and as cool as it’s ever been. Up next for TreynParker and Matt Stone is a film called ‘The Book of Mormon’, I’ve yet tonunderstand their fixation with Mormons (they have made fun of them in two filmsnand a couple of South Park episodes) but if it’s anything as funny as Orgazmo,nthen sign me up!

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nRating:  4 out of 5